Response to Nick Post 2

I think Nick makes a valid point in his second post about the effects of comments or small actions that may impact a student's brain. I have always believed that teachers can have lasting impacts on their students for good or for bad (many of my past teachers have) and have believed in not making the a negative comment for fear of insulting the student or pushing them away from coming to me for help. Now, after reading The Primal Teen, there seems to be biological reasoning behind a teacher and his/her everlasting effects on students. Nick's post made me think deeper about that idea, also, Nick made the point that negative feedback may have adverse effects on a student, and if that's true, just think about the good that postive feedback can do for a student?

Week one post 2 - Nick

In thinking about the teenage brain, undergoing change in much the same way that the brains of babies do, I've been considering the effects of offhand remarks and the lasting damage they can inflict.
Memories often seem pointless - for some reason one remembers a subtle thing about a scene, but possibly not the major action that's taking place in the room. Primal Teen talks about how the teenage brain forms numerous new pathways and then cuts back on the unnecessary ones once adulthood rolls around, so in that, there must be numerous memories that can be lost as useless.
So what about comments, positive or negative, that teachers make? It's interesting to know that because of the age these students will be, our actions as teachers can have a lasting impression upon them. I feel we need to be very careful how we act to avoid hurting these kids, especially situations where we might not even realize how our actions effect others.

I take new experiences as they come. I'm that person that packs for vacation the night before. But I allow myself lists before the ultimate packing.

In saying this, I am preparing myself for student teaching by making lists in a sense. I've reading the novel I will be teaching, I have taken all the college courses that supposedly prepare me for the classroom, but all-in-all, it comes down to packing the night before. I still don't know what it's like to be a teacher, much like you never really know what you should pack for vacation until you get there.

I keep an open mind. I don't fill my head with "what-if" statements, but instead I gather as much information as I can to be informed and go into the situation as myself. I don't have preconceived notions or expectations for student teaching.

What I'm trying to say is that I don't want to think about what might be the easiest part or what might be the hardest part because I really don't know. And I won't know until I am in that classroom.

Week 1: Melanie

I think my conception of myself as a teacher is ever changing. Right now, I am developing the idea of being a high school English teacher. In the past, I have been in positions and/or jobs that require me to be a type of "teacher" so the idea of being a teacher is not so far from my mind; its just the type of teacher that I am becoming. I do believe that my past teacher type experiences are only a springboard as to what is to come in the next sixteen weeks let alone the next 30 years.

I think the easiest part of the transition to teacher will be developing relationships with the students, my cooperating teacher, and other teachers in the building. Along with that is also the hardest part of the transitioning and being a new teacher: establishing myself as an authority figure. I think I can handle the work load and early mornings; the most challenging part for me will be my presence in the classroom and not letting the students see how incredibly frightened I really am.

I cannot pinpoint one answer to what "being a teacher" means to me. It means many things. Being a teacher means being knowledgeable about a subject and having the ability to always be adapting new content for his/her classroom. Being a teacher all means being a mentor and helping students through what may be the last years of their education and preparing them both academically; but also socially and emotionally for whatever may come for them after graduation. Being a teacher also means grading papers, writing passes, decorating bulletin boards, and writing lesson plans. It also means being a director, a disciplinary, and guide. As to whether I think I am a teacher yet or not, I believe I have all the abilities to be a teacher and am day by day, lesson by lesson horning those abilities.

weak won post

personally, i reject the notion that all teachers belong in a classroom and that everyone in front of the classroom is necessarily a teacher and anyone not in the classroom can't be a teacher and teachers who teach that run-on sentences are bad are good. i prefer to view teaching as a universal process whereby one provides "information" to another person in an ideally reciprocal relationship. however, i understand that, socially, we have people who are "teachers" just as we have people who are "plumbers" or "doctors" or "actors" (and for some reason there's an odd mutual exclusivity among these professions, but that's another entry). therefore, with regard to my own perceptions of myself as a teacher, i would have to say that i am confident in certain areas and nervous about others. having taught college composition for a number of years, i have grown confident in my ability to quickly and efficiently establish a rapport with my students predicated on mutual respect and fluid communication. i have taught myself how to balance between grading, working, marriaging, teaching, and living a healthy lifestyle. i've learned how to deal with discipline problems, how to handle unmotivated students, and how to respond to low classroom morale. i love teaching college and in that respect, i'm not nervous at all about continuing teaching in high school....

but alas, as i am so frequently reminded, college is not high school nor are the types of students to which i am accustomed similar to the types of students with which i'll interact in high school. discipline in high school is not discipline in college nor is motivation, morale or teaching in general! it is a different world entirely and i am just now (or at least in the last year) beginning to realize that...perhaps my two biggest concerns about teaching high schoolers are the very things i have never had to deal with in college: parents and utter apathy. regarding the latter, for the most part, college kids want to be in college. there isn't the feeling of simply waiting until graduation before abandoning any continued education. college kids choose to be there and while they may whine occasionally at having to get up early for a class or write a long paper, they rarely get too out of hand. similarly, i've never had to deal with parents. in fact, it is illegal for me to even converse with a parent about anything! it's great, honestly. if a parent emails me about their child, i forward that to my boss and that's it. i'm nervous that this has maybe desensitized me to the "real world" of high school teaching wherein i'll not only be required but also expected to contact parents, respond to their concerns, listen to them yell at me, and probably cry myself to sleep sometimes. i don't take criticism well....personal criticism that is...i'm very sensitive.

so, all in all, i feel that teaching is largely instinctual and rightfully so. for, without properly tuned instincts, what social benefit can a teacher possibly serve without eventually being consumed by their own anxiety? a teacher is not a lesson plan. a teacher is not a textbook or a worksheet or a state standard. a teacher is not a test or a chart or a number or picture. a teacher, like a student, is a living, breathing, dynamic person whose job it is to harness the books and the charts and the pictures and the tests and make them accessible to others. that's what a teacher is to me. but you don't have to take my word for it!

As a pre-service teacher my conception of myself as a teacher is still very much in flux. Because my experiences are limited at this point, each one has a great impact on the next experience. As they pile up I will be able to pick and choose which to take with me and which of those to leave behind. My conception of myself as a teacher will be different at the end of student teaching, as it is the most time I have spent teaching thus far. I do not have a strong image of myself in this role but I am sure I will soon. 

The easiest part of student teaching will be the act of finally teaching and working with students. Much of my work as a teacher has been hypothetical, for a class of students that only exist in the head of my instructors. Part of being a good teacher is learning from the students, and meeting the needs of our students, therefore this is the time I can really gain from my education. Working with each class will tell me how to teach them. 

The most challenging part of student teaching could be teaching someone else's class. I will be taking over roughly into the second nine weeks of the year, when the class and teacher are already established. On top of creating my own lessons, I have to connect them to someone else's instruction. I look forward to learning from a far more experienced teacher. She can be a guide, and I am hoping we can work together for the students. 

Being a teacher, to me, means that I help students accomplish their goals. I want them to succeed and leave my classroom with skills to move forward in life. Those skills can include appreciating literature to reexamine their lives to writing in a clear and concise tone to communicate their intentions. When students find and use a voice, they can move forward in whatever captures their interests. Of course many students will not continue studying the language arts, but what I want them to gain in my class they can carry throughout their lives. 

Week One

The conception of myself as a teacher seems to constantly change. I do not yet have an exact definition of what I think it means to be a teacher. Every time I think about this question or my philosophy, there's always something that changes. I look back at classroom experiences I've had, which seem like very few compared to what is coming, and wonder what I will do with a class that I'm in charge of for 8 weeks or so. I think about the 'what-ifs' as everyone talks about teachers that burn out after only 5 years and when I should get my masters. Not to mention I can't make a decision about whether I want to teach right away or do some sort of teaching English abroad program. Hopefully student teaching will give me a better idea of what it means to be a teacher and what I want to do directly after graduation.

I think going from student to teacher will become easier once I am actually in the classroom. Like I mentioned before, at this point I have no idea what to do with 8 periods of 7th grade English students. The easiest part of the transition might be the preparation and organization parts of teaching. Both of these I've been forced to practice through college so will hopefully be able to carry them over to student teaching fairly easily. The biggest challenge will be keeping students engaged and willing to learn. I've heard the cooperating teacher that I am working with is very good at that, which is good because I can learn from it, but I also feel like the students will have high expectations of me as well.

Currently, I don't think of myself as a teacher. I'm really excited about student teaching, happy with the grade level, and with my cooperating teacher, but still feel like a student. I think part of it is that I'm still doing the same things I've been doing the past 4 years... taking classes and working part time. I feel much more like a 'professional' when I'm in the schools or talking about teaching, just not quite to the 'teacher' level yet.

Week One - Nick

I don't know what it means to be a teacher - I also don't know what it means to be a duck or an airplane painted blue so it blends in with the sky... or a rock either, for that matter. What I do know is what it feels like to be someone about to become a teacher and having no idea what it is going to be like.

Terror, horror, awful screams somewhere off to my left.

I really want to succeed at this, that much I am sure of. I've also become increasingly aware that I'm not really alone during any part of this, some very nice people have come along to provide their expertise and advice.

So, step one. Tonight I'm going to try and set up a meeting with my mentor teacher to sit down and discuss her plans for this semester and what the fundamentals of teaching eighth grade really are.
wish me luck

Week 1-Leo

I am having a hard time seeing myself as a teacher. During this whole process I have felt like a student who if performing for grades. I feel like I am playing a part in grand production. It is funny, but I feel more like a teacher when I am leading my church's bible study then I do when I visit a classroom. I think that this feeling exists because, at church, no one is grading me or judging my performance. In every block there is the clear evaluation period and I am obviously just borrowing a classroom full of students.

I think the easiest transition that I will find is the abandonment of the grading process that I undergo each semester. While I am aware that I will report to a higher authority, I am speaking more to the point of having ownership. I will be the teacher, not just the visiting or student-teacher.

The most challenging part for me is going to be the blank faces in the classroom. I try to participate as much as possible in a classroom and as a teacher I feel like I need to see that in my students. Unfortunately, not all my students will be interested or active so this frightens me because I am going to have to be extremely creative to get them involved. I think another challenge, closely related to this challenge, is going to be assessment of my students. I do not want to bog them down with tons of homework, nor do I want to constantly test them. I would like to depend more heavily on participation, but not all students are going to participate. This said, I still have to find out if they are still learning. This seems challenging for me.

I think that I already covered that I do not see myself as a teacher because I have no ownership over my classroom nor am I receiving a paycheck. Being a teacher, to me, means to be actively teaching. This means that a teacher should be in the classroom teaching, getting paid, and preparing for the next day. I associate being a teacher with having roots in a given community. For instance, the students should not only see me as their instructor, but also as their fan in sports and extracurriculars. Being a teacher means that you are part of the fabric of the students daily lives and you want them to become educated because these students are going to someday serve you, be it in restaurants, businesses, or physical health care. I do not feel I am there yet, but I am excited to become part of the community.

Week 1- Post 1- Taryn

The developing conception of myself as a teacher still has a long way to go, to say the least. I think that this semester is going to be the biggest factor in my choice of career path. While so much of me is passionate about being a teacher, there’s also part of me that’s just as passionate about the English language and writing in general. Knowing that I’ll have to make a decision about what I’d like to pursue in less than six months is scary, but having this semester to test the waters of teaching is exciting.

I think the easiest part of my transition from student to teacher will be having the ability to know what it feels like to be frustrated and not understand. Though I’ve done well in school, there have been many times when I became very discouraged, and having those experiences will help me be patient with my own students. I think the most challenging part will be catering to a large group of diverse learners and learning how to manage their different personalities in one classroom. This will be most challenging because I know that I’m in charge of students who, though in the same classroom, are at different learning levels and prefer different teaching styles. It will be difficult for me to know that there are some kids who might not fully understand the material, no matter how much they try; however, I’m ready to try my best to help them.

I currently think of myself as a student because I’m not quite to the finish line yet. In six weeks, however, I will consider myself to be a professional because that’s how my students will (hopefully) view me. Though it’s only a bit over a month away, I know I’m ready. To me, being a teacher means aiding students so that they can better their lives. This definition isn’t limited to cognitive ability, but also their emotional well being. It means that I have to be setting a good example all the time, and though that’s a bit scary, I know that I can handle it. My classes and previous field experience have prepared me to handle anything that arises in my future classroom. I look forward to becoming a teacher this fall, and hopefully soon thereafter.

Week One Post

Welcome to our class blog! I'm excited to work with all of you this semester, which is also the semester of your student teaching. Given that our class is short (6 weeks) I'm using this blog to expand our opportunities for discussion and collaboration. You are required to post responses on this blog at least twice per week, for a total of 12 posts. Sometimes I will provide prompts, but you can always respond to other issues, ideas, or questions which might address different topics than my prompts but that are still relevant to our class. Both new posts and responses to peers' posts count as weekly posts.

For our first week of class, write about your developing conception of yourself as a teacher. What do you think will be the easiest part of your upcoming transition from student to teacher? What will be the most challenging part? Why? Do you currently think of yourself as a "teacher"? Why or why not? What does "being a teacher" mean to you?

Janet